HRM Question

ladychi306

Good afternoon everyone,

I just bought me the Polar FT7 yesterday and I used it today when I did my workout at Curves this morning, but I have a question....I am doing the Curves Smart program there and when I'm done it tells how I did with my workout and all. But looking at the calories it says I burned, which was 436 and the calories on my HRM which was 271...which one should I go by when I am logging in my exercise for the day? Please any advice would be great!!!

Andrea

dad106

Your HRM.. always.

If you have it set up correctly with your stats, it's going to be more accurate then what the curves smart system says.

MunchkinHawk12

I am having that same issue with my HRM. I have called the people to try and get it calibrated correctly and they are no help. I do Zumba and my HRM tells me I only burn 300 calories. However, if you saw me in there, you would think I burned AT LEAST 500, but I bet more. All HRM's are different and some are not as accurate. Try calibrating it again to see if it works right for ya next time!

Laura

mgmlap

I say go with the HRM..but double check to make sure its calibrated correctly..

abbie017

HRMs are set up for your height, weight, and age, and they read your heartbeat constantly. While they are not 100% accurate, they are much, much more accurate than machines in the gym. I'm not sure what the curves smart system is, but if it's not directly linked to your heartbeat, it's not as accurate as your HRM. The lower burn is the safer one to pick, and likely it is closer to your accurate burn.

anubis609

HRM is the more accurate estimate of calories burned.

Nikki_is_Knotty

I have been having this issue as well, with toning exercise classes, I am engaging a lot more muscles and getting a much better burn, but my HR is not getting in the zone so i am not burning more calories, or am i? My HRM says i am burning half the calories that MFP says. I would think i am burning more than my HRM says to, but i suppose if HRM is always 100% accurate that i am just wrong. lol.

zudleymarie

I have the exact same HRM. Definitely go with the HRM's numbers if your height, weight, and age are calibrated correctly.

Kany

I had the same problem when I switched to counting my calories burned with an HRM. The calories burned was way lower and I thought I worked out really hard. So I'm stopped using that HRM and ordered my Polar FT7 this week. I'm hoping to get a more accurate calories burned than what the machine says. It's better to underestimate the the calories burned than to overestimate it if you're trying to lose weight.

karenmi

I would go with what the HRM says, if, as others have noted, it is calibrated properly.

I always tend to overestimate how hard I work and underestimate how much I eat, so by using a good HRM and logging calories accurately here on MFP I feel that I am going to get the best results.

I find that the treadmill is always over by at least 50 calories compared to what my Polar HRM says.

liftingbro

HRMs are definitely more accurate than any calulation. However, MFP actually gets pretty close for me when comparing my HRM burns to the estimate.

I burn about 600 calories during my 1hr or so p90x workout and when I plug in Calisthenics (which is basicaly what P90X is) it comes up with 623.

MinnieInMaine

One question - did you wet the chest strap before your workout? Very important step... Also, make sure you follow the cleaning instructions.

As long as you're doing all that right and have it set up per your specifications, I would go by the HRM.